CHANDIGARH: Rallying behind former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Punjab Congress leadership played the Dalit card and accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of insulting a Dalit leader to "satisfy their ego".
Coming out in support of Channi, who was summoned for questioning in a disproportionate assets case by the vigilance, senior Punjab Congress leaders, including PPCC chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, held a press conference in at the Punjab Congress Bhawan here on Friday to expose the "propaganda" and the "malicious practices" of the AAP.
Strongly condemning the vigilance action and use of government machinery against Channi, Warring said: "The Aam Aadmi Party is harassing him to satisfy their ego."
Slamming the Bhagwant Mann government for summoning of the former chief minister by the vigilance bureau on April 14 – a public holiday on account of Ambedkar Jayanti, senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said: "This is an open insult of a Dalit leader, who had sought time to appear before the vigilance bureau on April 20."
"Why could the vigilance bureau not have waited? Were there some special instructions from the top or probably from Bhagwant Mann to prepone summoning of Channi only to insult the Dalit leader as well as the community he belongs to?", said the leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly.
Bajwa also asked Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal where were the deputy chief ministers from the Hindu and the Dalit communities, which the both had promised during the Punjab assembly elections.
Addressing the press conference, Channi said the AAP government had drastically failed on all fronts and was terrified by the opposition’s strength and unity.
"The government is adapting the divide and rule policy to hide its incompetence and failure," he said.
"I have great faith in the Indian judicial system and I assure them of complete assistance in the legal proceedings. Also, I dare the state government to prove any of the charges framed against me," Channi added.
He challenged chief minister Mann to prove the allegations that he owned property worth Rs 170 crore.
"Barring my home and an office and one shop, let them show which property I own, I will give it to the government," Channi said with tears in his eyes.
Launching a scathing attack on the Mann-led government, the former CM said the "inexperienced government" had failed to curb the drug menace, eliminate the gangster culture, address public grievances and deliver justice in the sacrilege case as promised.
Instead of fulfilling its promises, the government is hell-bent on registering false cases against those who are raising their voice against its atrocities, said Channi. "All I know is that Bhagwant Mann is trying to authenticate its propaganda by wasting public money on putting at risk the lives of those who speak with courage against the ruling dispensation. Sidhu Moose Wala was assassinated and I think they will eliminate me too," he said. Channi said he was being targeted as people could not digest how a Dalit, who came from a humble background, became the chief minister.
Warring, meanwhile, said the AAP Punjab was stooping to a new low in politics. “The deceitful and nefarious propaganda of the AAP leadership stands exposed. Terrified by its loss in the Sangrur bypoll, Bhagwant Mann’s home turf, the party is resorting to defaming and harassing opposition leaders ahead of the Jalandhar Lok Sabha byelection and diverting everyone’s attention from its failures,” he said.
Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, the party candidate for the Jalandhar bypoll, said the Congress was all set to win the May 10 contest and the AAP had already accepted its defeat. "Afraid of losing another bypoll, the AAP leadership is employing malicious tactics to disrupt the voters and harass the opposition," she said.
Echoing similar sentiments, state in-charge of Congress Harish Chaudhary said the party had complete faith in Channi and stands by him. “Disillusioned by the AAP’s visible misgovernance, the people will teach them a lesson in the upcoming bypoll,” he said.
